Chapter 339 - The Image of Her Brother

"Should I call you grandson, then, descendant of mine?"

Eh? Eeeh? EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH?

Both the Suzuki siblings and Chiaki were shocked. Their shrieks of surprise caught the other people's attention so they smiled sheepishly at them to indicate that everything's fine before clarifying the matter.

"Father, what did you say?"Alinea asked in a hushed tone.

Technically, aside from the Mayor and the officials, the rest of the guests were from the Homura and Kazehaya Houses so it was alright to speak normally about deities and such. However, she felt that this information was something that many were not privy to, and she'd like to keep it that way.

Also…

Alinea looked at Ryuu and Ivan. The two looked as if nothing major happened or had been heard. Strange…

It was as if they knew something they didn't.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Do you want to go and rest?" Ryuu asked, his voice low and suggestive. Resting was totally never on his agenda the way he phrased the question.

Idiot.

"Don't try and confuse me, husband," Alinea growled, making Ryuu smile as he turned to his perplexed father-in-law.

"Kresnik, I have to applaud your courage to say such things in front of me." Although he had completely accepted the Flame God as his son-in-law, he was still not pleased with their PDA and innuendoes. "What are you trying to achieve?"

"Your new grandchildren," Ryuu deadpanned, rendering the others speechless.

"Ya!" Alinea scolded as she hit her husband's arm. Nobody could stop her from getting answers – even a honey trap.

Suzuki Aki seemed to have recovered as well and he cleared his throat. "Excuse me," he called out, making the others look at him. "What exactly do you mean by earlier? Can you please explain?"

Nevertheless, the retraction of the "joke" that he was expecting never happened. Instead, Perun turned to him again with his serious amethyst gaze as if studying his face, before they both warmed over, the corners of his mouth softening as he smiled at him.

"What's there to explain, child?"Perun replied gently. "It means exactly what you think it means. You are a child of Ritz, a man who carries my blood in his veins."

Eh? Eeeh? EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH?

Suzuki Aki and Alinea exchanged looks of surprise.

"Sister, did you know about this?"

"Obviously not, okay?" Alinea turned to her husband and Ivan who remained watching. "How about you two?"

"Of course, we know," Ivan answered readily. "It's obvious isn't it?"

Huh? What was obvious?

"My little one, look at his face," Perun ordered his daughter who immediately followed.

"What's with my face?" Aki asked as he too touched his visage.

Perun chuckled. "Alinea, imagine Aki with the same coloring as I. Imagine him with silver hair and cornflower colored eyes."

With this, Alinea frowned as she scrutinized Aki's face again, and then her eyes widened in realization.

Raiden!

"What? What?" Aki asked consecutively, his nervousness apparent.

"Relax," Perun told him. "It's nothing sort of a defect. You just look similar to my eldest son," he continued, making Aki's jaw drop.

Similar. To. Perun's. Son.

No matter how he tried, he couldn't absorb the words.

"Why do you look so shocked? How did you think Alinea could be born in the Suzuki Household if you didn't carry the blood of Perun within your family?" Ivan grinned at them.

"Did you know this before we got engaged?"Alinea asked Ryuu.

But the Koutaishidenka shook his head. "I didn't," he answered honestly, but before Alinea could ask him how he knew it then, he explained. "But I did when I discovered your real identity and my memories.

When Ryuu found out that Suzuki Ara was an incomplete soul, and that she was his wife, Alencica, it was easy to realize that the Suzuki had Ritz blood in them. After all, Alinea was some sort of a Returner to Ancestry as well, although her case was special since she's only a demigod and not a pure deity.

"The Suzuki Raiden Group's name is a total give away too, no?" Ryuu reminded them of their family's company and their eyes widened in realization.

Of course.

Also, Ryuu as Kresnik had personally met and took good care of Raiden and his twin, Perun's twin sons with Fanya. Unbeknownst to many, it was Kresnik and Stribog who had rescued and brought the children to Ged in the behest of the King of Heaven when Fanya tried to kill her own children out of jealousy. This was that time when they had founded the kingdoms in Ged. Stribog founded Ovid, Kresnik built Kres, Raiden created Ritz, while his twin created the Ice kingdom of Cillan.   

"But how come I didn't know anything?" Aki asked. He frowned as he tried to analyze his body. He didn't feel anything weird or magical as well.

"It's because there was no one who taught you how to utilize your blood," Ivan answered again. "Even if you have Perun's blood, if you did not awaken it, you will be nothing but a simple mortal. Also, you are not a Returner to Ancestry, and the blood had been diluted over the centuries in this world, and so, even if you awakened your blood, it wouldn't change anything as much."

Oh…

"Is that so?"Alinea finally understood.

She had never met any of her older siblings in person. The twins chose to descend to the mortal realm and live as mortals. They had already died long before she was born. In fact, her father met her mother on the day her older brother was laid to rest. Perun was crying after Raiden's funeral as he lay under a tree when her mother first met him.

"Anyway, if I'm not mistaken, one of your parents – possibly your mother was the Ritz descendant. I will have to clarify this with my mortal parents, though," Ryuu added solemnly as he stared at Aki.

At the mention of their parents, Aki visibly and unconsciously clenched his fist on the side, his eyes turning hard as crystals, and Ryuu sighed. He guessed that Aki's investigation of what really happened to his parents already bore results – and they were not good.